This short story explores the confluence of self-doubt and friendship. Image from photo by Massimo Sartirana on Unsplash.com

“He was a natural for A&R, but maybe it was better for him to be here, plotting and planning with politicians of varying shades, and ensuring that young composers and musicians knew there was a reason to savor the trials of becoming an artist.”

This memoir is about fulfilling the trust a broken veteran put in me, and how I needed to trust someone as well. The photo is of a certificate I received after undergoing the Order of Neptune ritual while crossing the equator between Singapore and the Sunda Strait aboard the USS Ticonderoga.

“Welcome back,” I said.

His eyes reddened, and he gave me a strained smile. “Thanks, I guess.”

This complex short story is “a muddle of memory and metaphor” I’ve been trying to birth for years. The photo, by anonymous, shows flares, Cobra gunships and assorted noise looking west from my barracks at Da Nang Air Base. It was nights like these that inspired this story.

“It had to be OK because Figment of Reality imagined these tales of life and death again and again: of armed teenagers afraid and unable to understand; of more nights of rockets, machine guns and terror; of again running to warn my comrades who work on warplanes in the black night; of a flare popping above; of shadows under the wings dancing like fits of death.”

This memoir shows how seemingly small acts of kindness can sometimes have larger consequences. Some names and locations have been changed to shield an identity. The image at left is a poster for The Thin Man from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios.

This is a memoir about getting what you think you want. The photograph is of me as an old salt on the gangplank of the USS Ticonderoga.

“I was trying not to show it, but he felt my turmoil. He even volunteered to stay aboard with me. His wife and daughter, who I knew almost intimately from his stories, were on the pier. There was no question about where he needed to be. I thanked him and wished him well.

Soon, most everyone was ashore while I just sat stunned. Silent. Stewing.”

This memoir is all about transit; from civilian to sailor, from teenager to man, and from voiceless cog to celebrant of attainable freedom. Photograph of the USS Sanctuary off the coast of Da Nang, 1969, by William P Jones, MD.

“One thing I knew: Ferguson was on to something. All of us lined up at morning muster had signed away our lives. No exaggeration. The Navy now owned us physically, and even mentally.”

This memoir is about my first few days in a Navy squadron and the changes I went through after meeting my militant first roommate. The photo was taken of me nearby in the Fall of 1969. Published in the 2018 edition of Ageless Authors Anthology.

“Hill spoke: “Smitty, come the revolution, you’re gonna have to go up against the wall.”

I looked at him askance before inspecting an empty locker. “Well, you wake up cheery,” I said.”

Welcome

This site now reflects the next chapter in my life. I started out to be a writer, then got distracted for several decades by visual art via technology. Time to learn this craft.

This page is to become full of memoirs, fiction, travelogues, poetry and other written explorations. All are identified by genre. Most are in process. Those will change, sometimes drastically. Once published, I will (try to) stop editing.

I have several banker boxes stuffed with almost 50 years of stories, poems, notes, and ideas to mine. Should be fun.